The serpentine column consists of three serpents
twisted together: the heads are gone, Mohammed II. having knocked off
one with his battle-axe. A little Turk was taking his riding-lesson on
the level ground of the Hippodrome, and his frisky little black pony
gave the old fellow in attendance plenty of occupation. We watched the
boy for a while, and then, passing on toward the Marmora, took a look at
the "Cistern of the Thousand Columns." A broad flight of steps leads
down to it, and the many tall slender columns of Byzantine architecture
make a perfect wilderness of pillars. Wherever we stood, we seemed
always the centre from which long aisles of columns radiated till they
lost themselves in the darkness. The cistern has long been empty, and is
used as a ropewalk.
The great fire swept a large district of the city here, which has been
but little rebuilt, and the view of the Marmora is very fine. On the
opposite Asiatic shore Mount Olympus, with its snow-crowned summit,
fades away into the blue of the heavens. This is a glorious atmosphere,
at least at this season, the air clear and bracing, the sky a beautiful
blue and the sunsets golden. In winter it is cold, muddy and cheerless,
and in midsummer the simoom which sweeps up the Marmora from Africa and
the Syrian coast renders it very unhealthy for Europeans to remain in
the city. The simoom is exceedingly enervating in its effects, and all
who can spend the summer months on the upper Bosphorus, where the
prevailing winds are from the Black Sea and the air is cool and
healthful.
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